(Ottawa) The Dominican Republic would never have given Canada permission to set up an office on its territory with the mandate to support the Haitian National Police.
Dominican Minister of External Affairs Roberto Álvarez made the claim in a tweet published on Friday, the day after his Canadian counterpart, Mélanie Joly, announced the announcement.
“The Dominican government confirms that it has not discussed, agreed or granted any authorization for the installation on our territory of a coordination office in support of the National Police of Haiti, as indicated by the information of ‘a Canadian media,’ he wrote in Spanish.
Minister Joly announced the upcoming opening of the International Assistance Coordination Office during the Haiti 2023 Ministerial Meeting on Thursday morning. As she has often said, the head of Canadian diplomacy has expressed the wish to develop solutions “by and for Haitians”.
His office has yet to react to Minister Álvarez’s comments in a tweet that Reuters news agency first reported on Friday.
Canada has been asked many times, including by the United States, to lead a multinational intervention mission to restore order in the Caribbean country plunged into chaos for months.
However, he always resisted.